>> welcome to another summer evening with booktv's first wife series. we are for missing -- focusing on books written by the former first ladies. the first first lady was nellie taft who recalls her time in the white house in a 1940 memoir recollections in four years presents and 10 other other first ladies have published memoirs. we are going to focus tonight on five women who have served in that position in the last 50 years. first up rosalynn carter.

she served as first lady from 1977 to 1981 and she's the author of five looks and a 1984 her best-selling memoir first lady from planes was released. this is carter's subsequent books have focused on caregiving and mental health care. the subject she's championed throughout her life. now from 2010 here is rosalynn carter talking about her book "within our reach" ending the mental health crisis. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you. i'm really pleased to be here tonight and pleased to see so many people interested in my book. i have been on a book tour this week. i started on monday and i get the same two questions every time so i thought i would tell you what they were.

the first one is how to do you get involved in mental health and the second one is why did you write the book lacks i'm going to tell you how i got involved in the to help. i was campaigning for jimmy in florida. that does make a difference. i was campaigning, and telling you how i got involved with mental health issues. i was campaigning for jimmy when he ran for governor for the first time any loss the first time. a democratic candidate dropped out. he was a big segregationists and this was 66, long time ago. i am aged. so nobody would run against him. he was very popular and jimmy said we can't just let them have it. i had never campaigned but i got in the car and drove from one town to the next.

it was a very disorganized campaign but 1963 that mental health care act was passed in 1966 and they were moving people out of the central state hospital because it was overcrowded in terrible conditions into the community but there were no community mental health centers yet. i had so many people ask me, what will your husband do with their loved one of central state if he's elected governor? people kept saying that one day i was standing at the gate of a factory in atlanta georgia at 430 clock in the morning from a shift change. that's a good place to because there's a lot of people coming in and going out of passing out brochures for this woman came out and she was really small and elderly. i said and you could tell how

tired she was from working all night. i said i hope when you get home you get some sleep. she said i hope so too but we have a mentally ill daughter and we struggle to pay for her care. my husband stays with her and i stay with her i when he works in the daytime. they worried all day about whether or not the son or daughter, she didn't say which, was awake when she got home. i was thinking about whether she got any sleep or not. the same day was riding around and it came to it town that you didn't want to be in at night. it was a very disorganized campaign. i got in the back of the room and he did know i was there. it was close to the election so i got in the back of the room and he was shaking hands and

people were shaking his hand. i don't know if you've stood in a receiving line but it's part of my life. he had my hand and when i got in friday said what he doing here i said i want to know what you are going to do when you are governor for people with mental illness. he said we are going to have the best program the country and i'm going to put you in charge of it. [laughter] he didn't put me in charge of it because i didn't know anything about it. when he became the governor four years later i think he was in office not even a month. i worked on that for four years. we actually put community mental health centers and 123 communities but they were not

comprehensive. most of them, maybe not most of them but some of them were alternates in a town where people could go to find out where to get help. i was really proud of it. then when i campaigned because it had in my bio that i was interested in the work on mental health issues everywhere i went in the country i campaigned for a year, everywhere i went and if people had mental health day with wanted to say it and if it was good they wanted to show it off and there were very few. i developed this responsibility because back then people were putting them in institutions and nobody wanted to talk about it or even talk about mental

illness. when he was governor somebody heard me at that meeting that night and i always say all of the advocates dissented on me all five of them. and then when jimmy was running for governor and i was having a meeting it was a long time before we could get many people to come and we never did really get a buildup of an advocacy. just a few employees because my husband was governor but nobody wanted to talk about the issue. it's been a very long time since i got involved and the governor's commission and the presidents commission and we have a good program at the carter center in atlanta. we live in plains, georgia 2.5 hour drive south but we spend one week a month that we

schedule a year ahead of time to be at the carter center and we travel with their projects. i don't get there as much as i would like to but that's how i got involved. i got the mental health system of 1980 pass we worked hard and got it passed in october of 1980. [applause] the president was a lot did and the whole legislation was abandoned. we have even passed the legislation and funded it and it was not perfect but it made a considerable difference. it was one of the biggest departments in my life. that's how i got started. the other question was righted the write the book? well you heard how i got started in the situation and moving out of the institutions with nowhere to go.

now i worked all this time. i think help for mental and was goes in cycles. it goes in cycles without someone in it who's interested in it and it's doing pretty good in the next president doesn't care about it so nothing happens in at just along for a while. my answer is great, fund it and with great research. when president bush the first president bush came into office it was the decade of the brain and he really added to the research. today we have learned so much. from research we have new treatments new medications and we now know that people can recover. the reason i wrote this book is

because we have been $120 billion a year on health care. that does not count supportive housing supported employment or anything else just to mental health care. millions are suffering and i am so distressed about it. i'm angry about it because to know that people can recover and not have a system that works hurts me. i wrote the book because i want people to know what i know so we can get over the stigma which affects everything we try to do and go on to do what's good and right for people with mental illnesses. my book focuses on four major things, recovery, and as i just said it stresses me so much because people can recover from mental emesis mental health system is started beginning to happen.

we are going to have to shift away from -- mental illness but i have so many people who told me about that problem. one young man was training to be a great artist and he was a teenager. i think he was a junior in college would he developed, what to the doctor and talk to the doctor and told him he thought he was going to be a great artist and he hoped he could get wilson and the doctor said he'll never be able to do that or you that's what's happened in the past. it was the business it and it's to be for the rest of your life. forcing people strength and saying you can recover and we can help you. that's what the mental health system has to do. so recovery is one. one in four adults in this

country develop a mental illness every year. one in five children develop a mental illness every year and mental illness does not discriminate. it happens to everybody. it happens to people on the streets. happens to the poor, happens to the rich and it happens the homeless. it happens to ceos and it can happen to anybody. it is everywhere. recovery and stigma. stigma is so distressing to me. it holds back funding for programs. people don't elect mental illness as can be helped so the politicians and the policymakers and people like me who really

try have a hard time convincing our officials to really work on mental health issues. i hope that's going to change since we got the parity bill and the health care, health care bill. mental health and substance use disorders in the basic health package does away with pre-existing conditions and puts great priority for training mental health professionals. in 2003, in 2002 president bush had another mental health commission in 2002 and did you know when i looked at the recommendations they were the same one. almost all of them were the same ones i did in 1978. insurance for mentally ill

people. it just to stresses you when you look back at it and see what it is. the reported that commission was the system of united states is in shambles. there are so many things we need to start over. there are two new bills now and what the consumer network program that is developing because consumers have originated and have done the research on recovery. there's a woman named judy chamberlain who in 1978 for the book called all in our own and anna was a subtitle but it was about -- and then she started meeting, she had had a dad experience with the mental health system so she started to get together groups who had been living with mental illness and

talking about how they could help each other. it just grew into a movement and one of my friends who is on my mental health task force was one of her early people who are drawn in. he started the first consumer program in the state government in alabama. my other friend who is from george and has lived with bipolar and is in recovery with one of the others and he started the first consumer program and the government in georgia. he also then started working as a consumer network and they started meeting in bringing people that they knew they were living with mental illness and talking to them. mentally ill people need respect. they need housing. they need a job and so the consumer network helps them with those things.

and people recover. some were covered without even taking medication anymore and some take medication and therapy that they were covered and they live the good life in the community. they raise their families working. young people are going to school. even with major thomas's people can recover. bad in georgia, can you hear me in the back? now in georgia the one who started the consumer network in the government, the consumer program was able to get medicaid for the consumers that were counseling their peers and in georgia we have 500 here, i

guess 500 mental health specialists certified mental health specialists and they go from communities and just need people. a lot of people come to see them but they go into the communities and that they see somebody homeless suffering are living with mental illness they just bring the men. it's just been a wonderful program and now he's spreading it all across the country. i think it's in 40 states but i'm not sure. there's one in maryland and i know because i do book signing and someone from the consumer network had me sign a book to my consumer network friends. i know it's in maryland now and i don't know other places where it is. it is growing and the reason i'm optimistic about the future is because with what we know about medication from research, medications and treatments and from the consumers being able to help people recover i think the

movement is too strong there. i just don't think they can set us back and particularly since the government is in the new health care bill and new parity bill. our thought it would be all right to have it if it covered mental health. it would legitimize it and that would mean an awful lot to people with mental illness so i have high hopes is going to be a good future and the other thing is prevention. they are now learning so much about prevention and so much about building resilience and children. we have learned that mental illness is developmental. 50% of all mental illness is are diagnosed in children by age 14,

75% by age 24. we have also learned and for any parents here with babies, and we need parenting classes because when babies are growing, they need deep attention. they need, people need to watch their babies to see how they nurture as there've parent develops. they need to watch the age at appropriate milestones like whether they crawl and time were walk on time. even when they are starting to nursery school to see how they will react with their peers.

we need to get this word out because now we know if you detect that illness early and interventions that mitigate the problem from developing further sometimes they can prevent it from developing into a major mental illness. those are the things about my book and i'm really pleased that you all came out and i'm so excited that you are interested in mental health. and you can help because you can go to your policymakers and let them know how important this is and you can go to a mental health center and volunteer. they always need volunteers. people are so interested in care about mental illness and i'm just pleased to be here and i think i'm going to be signing books for you.

[applause] thank you very much. every saturday in the summer booktv is taking the opportunity to open up our archives and bench watch with a well-known author. >> and either focus is a little bit different. we are looking at books are written by former first ladies. up next is former first lady barbara bush or she served as first lady from 1989 to 1993 and was the author of five books including two memoirs. she was very well-known for her children's book about her dog nellie. her two memoirs were published in 1994 and 2003. here is the late arbor bush discussing the second one, reflections at the texas book festival in austin. >> i loved writing my memoirs and the urge to write was still

there. i met my good friend mary higgins at a book fair and she suggested that i write an awful and she said it would a very very easy prey she recommended i do what she did, took a plot new the ending and then work back to a merry told me that when her characters talk to her she balked let them say something and she knows she's on the right track. it's as if they tell her i wouldn't do that or i wouldn't say that. it really sounded easy so i said for the two write a mystery novel. i made up what i thought was a rather interesting plot that centered around two female brew might -- roommates a flight attendant and a service agent who never stayed in town long enough to meet any attractive eligible men. they decided to get in touch with an escort bureau, you know a dating service.

all the men when women dated ended up dead and mike mary i knew at the killer and i worked my way back. i had one huge problem, my there's the never said one word to me. [laughter] i spent hours waiting, nothing. and besides that my conversations were stiff awkward and really boring. so i decided to leave the imagination for the real writer and to stick to what i knew. after all, life has not stopped after the white house. the last 10 years have been filled with travel and new experiences, making new friends, working on things we cared strongly that in the usual ups and downs of a large close family. and some very exciting moments. i'll bet you didn't know that not long biker magazine declared me first lady of the century.

visit course accompanied by a picture of my head superimposed on a curvaceous body draped over a harley davidson bikes. [laughter] biker babe of the century think is what the headline was pretty was quite an honor and certainly worthy of another book and yes there were two sons and one who became governor and one who went on to be president. there really were some things i could write about. after the research i didn't have to do anything and trying to remember what happened when and who said what to whom i didn't have to worry about that either. i've been a devoted diary keeper for years so i had to do was take my diary already on my computer turned turn it into some kind of readable prose, take out an opinion or two maybe, not all but some. some things are a left best

unpublished. i toiled away usually in the early morning sitting with my laptop in bed while george read the newspaper. while i wrote he cursed. [laughter] somehow it all worked. already people are asking me if there were yet again be another sequel. at age 78 i rather suspect not but who knows? 's just as life didn't stop after the white house it doesn't stop either is your approach 80 years of age and beyond especially if you are married to george bush. ..

on 13 june, this is the day after the gala to celebrate his 80th he will make his last jump and friends around the country are raising $30 million to be shared by m.d. anderson, the points of light foundation and the george bushpresidential library foundation . this will not only be his last jump but this, he swears will be the lasttime we ever ask anyone for money . i can clap for that. larry king has announced he is going to jump with george and i think so far he's lined up our texas university grandchild jen junior. he's going tojump with him . anyway, i have one, i have to share one little story that happened this past september . during a trip to russia george and i were invited to

spend a day with president putin at his watch up along the black sea. so that the russian equivalent of camp david. when we arrived my george was wearing a suit and tie while putin met us in a more informal close at the airport . we were very very flattered that he came to the airport to meet us and while we were driving back to the guesthouse some 20 minutes away, he suggested that he would drop us off at the guesthouse, we would freshen up and he and mrs. putin would walk to meet us and we wouldwant to meet them . so george, we're never going to have apress conference after that so george changed into very casual clothes . he wantedto be like putin . would you believe sweatpants and a polo shirt?

that's all he had. as we walked up the hill to meetthe putin's and they were walking down it soon became obvious president putin also changed his clothes . into a suit and tie. anyway, i found myself writing in my diary that night, this should go in the next book. i do know writing this book reminded me of a couple of things i've always known. one is that you really shouldn't take yourself or life too seriously. i'd like to read a very short passage from the book to prove my point. a regret. not my only regret but one regret is i did not keep all the pictures i have gotten from the barbara bush look-alikes. i get at least four letters a month and had four years the ladies who have been told they look exactly like me. and i'm so common looking at when i once wrote to the junior league in toledo ohio in october they had 2 epb look-alikes, great thing. they can be feet tall inches

or five feet to inches tall order to succeed. they can weigh 120, i like that to 220. they can be 55 95 years of age. they all have one thing in common area white hair. i have finally learned to say i wish i did look as pretty as you and in most cases it's true. as you can imagine the mayo also brings all sorts of funny surprises . one year shortly after getting the commencement address at texas a&m university , i received a letter from a lady who thought i might be in use by something happened after my talk. she had taken her granddaughter with her to the graduation and when she returned, the little girl to her mother the child ran into the house yelling mom, you'll never guess what i did. i heard the mother of the

president of the united states. i heard george washington's mother. now, i might have been more amused if i didn't sort of look likegeorge washington . now, another matter that truly thrilled me and amused my family came from your little girl who said something like dear mrs. bush, great news. i've named i have her after you. now this nice child fairly often since the updates on barbara bush bonhoeffer. barbara competed in the houston lodge dock show . one year and came in eight area i was sorry for my little friend but i was slightly relieved as i'm not sure i could have stood the headlines barbara bush wins

stock show.which brings me to the next thing that i was reminded of while writing this book. you cannot survive life without a sense of humor. otherwise you'll never recover from all the ups and downs and disappointments and wrong turns. in one of the reasons i married george bush was that he made me laugh. this was written after the death of our beloved dog millie you know, the one who wrote the best-selling book about life in the white house donated all the proceeds to literacy. millie made over $1 million for my foundation area used to say you know you were on your life, finally obtain the highest job in our country and maybe the world and your dog makes more money than you do.we are very sad when

millie died but thankfully some of the reaction to millie's made us smile. i wrote in my book the outpouring of letters, faxes, flowers and telephone calls about millie was unbelievable . people wrote things like i love her and i will always remember her. or i'm having masks stand for, this accompanied by a mastercard. our first conversational church in kennebunkport they prayed for her on the sunday after her death. and one lady wrote that she knew the pain we were suffering. you see, my husband died last year. and that may george very nervous.the barbara bush foundation for family literacy $500 contribution in memory of millie. it was really sweet. people wrote letters about their dog, sent pictures of

their dog or cat's either living or dead. millie would not have liked the latter one bit. my good friend mildred turner afternoon we named, after whom millie was named had reported reporters called interviewer georges chief of staff jane becker was interviewed by people magazine. both ladies said that the interviewers said they knew millie had written a book that she givenher proceeds to charity . but they wanted to know the personal side of millie. what she had done lately. millie was a dog. well thank god for a sense of humor. however, the most important thing i was reminded of is that i am the luckiest woman in the world. i have a husband whom i adore. children that bring us great joy, friends mean a tremendous amount to us and

we live in the great state of texas which is part of the freest nation in history. in the history of the world. doesn't get much better than that. now that i attended this wonderful festival, life truly is perfect. which brings me to one of my favorite topics, literacy even after all these years is still near and dear to my heart. i still believe that if more people did read, write and comprehend we could solve so many of our problems. i think we've made great progress but there is still much morework to be done . just this summer i read something that made me very very sad . in a recent survey, only 50 percent of adults said they had read a book since i finished school. and only half of those people

by more than 2 books a year. they certainly wouldn't fitin with this crowd, would that ? that's very scary i think and it's also very sad. i can't imagine life without books and reading. i feel like benjamin franklin who when asked what condition of man deserves the most pity replied, a lonesome man on a rainy day who does not know how toread . now, i'm sure there's, i'm not sure there's an event working anywhere harder to fix this problem in the texas book festival founded in 1995 by then texas first lady laura bush. laura's mother is here incidentally and i'm so glad to see her . right there. [applause] i must say, jenna welch is a great example for all mothers, fathers ,

caretakers, grandparents. she read to laura every single day and that's why, one of the many reasons we have this great gentle, strong first lady. as many of you know, the proceeds go to public libraries across texas. in just seven years you have raised more than 1 million, 43, whatever it is. thousands, millions read why didn't they write that out for me? i'm no good. for 474 libraries. i am told that a typical grant is $2500 for books and reading programs. in many cases, that doubles the budget for the book purchases. for these libraries and that is a terrific get. the great news now is laura

bush washington when she moved there he took this great idea with her. and in september with the help of an conjunction with the library of congress, they held their third national book festival on the mall. which has attracted thousands of people each year. and just this year, i'm sure i didn't read about it but i know it happened and i wishi had read about . 75,000 people came out on the mall to celebrate the book. thanks to our texas laura bush. that is a great, wonderful thing. [applause] incidentally, this is free and it's open to the public. now, laura and i join forces on another literacy project

here in texas when the barbara bush foundation for family literacy established the first lady's family literacy initiative for texas. of which laura is still the chair area beginning years ago we have given away nearly $2 million to 80 texas family literacy programs. i can't help but think thanks to these and other efforts that your efforts and the efforts of all the wonderful literacy volunteers across our state that someday people everywhere in texas will be able to count books as their treasured friends and companions. and i want to congratulate you all for what you're doing . i am thrilled i finallygot the bid although i had to write another book to get it . but thank you very very much, god bless you and god bless texas. that's it.

[applause] there's some time left for questions if anyone has it but remember i'm so old i don't here if i don't like the question. any questions? are you pointing at someone? if so, yeah. it's a question, you like to stand up and yell. >> are you kidding? the question is you heard it;

to jump within. no, i'mgoing to go there and catching . [applause] yes ma'am. >> i don't have a question but i did want to tell you i did read your first book and i loved it and i'm a teacher and my high school students love it when i wear one red and one blue. >> thank you. >> any other? [inaudible] do i give my son advice? george bush claims he doesn't but that i feel free to. i do feel free to because neither one of them take it . i have to tell you that all

our children are very nice and it's making me very nervous because they're calling and seeing how we feel and that kind of thing and one day marvin called and he said mom, i just talked to george and he said you took a long walk. i thought he was going tosay good girl mom . i think there are more protective of us now . i don't give much advice. yes ma'am. [inaudible] [applause] that's very nice and thank you. i'll thank you forjenna to . yes ma'am.

yes. [inaudible] >> you really have to read my book but let's see. i tried not to give maine's in the book. but we did have one time george and i were sitting on the deck of our house in kennebunkport . we had thislittle boat , it's called the main coaster, it's a little rubber books and the children are allowed to use. and george just loves it when he sees the girls and boys rushing out in the boat red one day one of the grandsons had houseguests was racing around the point. and we're sitting on the deck having lunch and george said, was dan jenkins like you who was the sportswriter. he said dan, that's the

biggest trees in my life to see those children use the main coaster. it's so wonderful and then the boat way way out and george hopefully said i'm may have to go rescue them area because he's dying to go out in his boat i guess. but in any case, he got his binoculars out and the little grandson,, went to the back of this tiny boat. urinated over the side. and the boat took off again. and i don't think the little kid ever knew. but we had him under our binoculars. but yes ma'am. the last book i read was sent to me and it was calledi am madame x . which was about a woman john singer sargent paint and i

had seen this john singer sargent painting and the show came to boston. i thought it was a beautiful painting then but by the time i got to the book i didn't think it was so beautiful area i really didn't, i didn't think it was. i just bought the arm looked weird area but anyway, didn't think it was that beautiful i enjoyed the booki'm looking for a good book . i read for to relax. i worry about my children all the time area particularly our mutual children. because i worry about the world and i don't think any president ever had a worse time to be president. lincoln had brother fighting against brother which was a terribletime . there's something about an unknown enemy which is what we're going through now. and i think that's very very hard area we worry much more than i think. so i read, i tried to read

not. or something that would just make me not remember or think about the problem. [inaudible] then, truthfully. i love jane austen read on listening to a bookon tape about the times in life of jane austen . i love made busy but there are quite a few that every book they write i read. i love elizabeth george. i love david baldacci. i love james patterson's books, not quite so much the scary ones that the one he wrote was so wonderful, like a letter to, i've forgotten but anyway. you get my age you don't remember the names but i love the books . they are just a lot area there's something happen automatically read, mary higgins clark there's some i have to read the minute they come out on a danger in a bookstore.

yes. >> read my books. yes. [inaudible] thank you. yes, i played golf george bush bush left me a college station where he is rushing down togo see the golf . and if will have it i may make a little tour up there myself . yes. what about children's books? what are my favorite children's books? it depends upon the age of course when i go to school i usually read young children. i love the book called amazing grace. the trouble is when you go to read the children, if it's a

book you love a red 400 times area so you have to try to find a book that's new and that has some kind ofmessage in . i love make way for ducklings and since that book is six years old and it has a very good message i think really tells you that policemen are there to make life easier and their compassionate and caring and i like that. but i think children should be taught to respect people who are in public service. are, policeman. senators, punishment. i believe that serving is a noble occupation. so i like make way for ducklings, it's so old you haven't read it. >> harry potter. let me tell you about harry potter area i used to go to

school and i would speak graders read and i would say, you like to read, not how many know how, how many like to read read all the girls on the most of them raise their hands and very few board read after harry potter came into our life, i would ask how many of you read a book life lately. every hand went up every boy and they would yell at i've read five times or they are father and mother would tell me i was at the store at 2 am this morningwhen they could buy it or something. i myself try to read harry potter . i readthe first one . i'm not, i didn't like alice in wonderland so i'm ashamed to tell you i am not that kind of reader but am i grateful to miss rolling or whatever her name is because she has opened reading to not only girls but boys. but i really didn't like it myself .

>> was a question about my son. >> that's very easy because i can recommend books that he can read. these into more things that his father is now into lessee. john meacham's book about winston and roosevelt. those are all very good books or interesting to george w. or there's just a lot of great books and have come out about statesman lately. not just john adams but there's just a lot of them and george reads those. that's nice. you know, in answer is that everybody said you're not

going to live in texas are you and we support we are, that's our home. wechose texas , and we love texas. so that's very nice and we love midland very much when we lived there too. very much. for midland. [inaudible] i'm 78, almost 79. and their dependent on what age i guess. you know, when you have four boys and a husband who is running for office, and i'm just not as a memory as i should be on that area i spent most of my life, i think they read truthfully sports illustrated. books about athletes. and god willing we finally got a girl. yes sir.

. then you next, you area. >> my favorite book i wrote? i only had four choices. of course my favorite book is reflections. . thank you for asking. i think millie's book certainly was great because it told people about the white house. now, you. [inaudible] well, i do. i do have a speechwriter. and she takes it sort of from my material every day i go out, something unbelievable happens to me. i mean, truthfully. i managed to trip over the

funniest things but i do have a speechwriter. she says we make a greatteam. she writes and i erase . >>. [inaudible] and then was unelected? well, i could hardly tell this route because you were probably on either side you were suffering. but it was just i'm sure other people have written about this, but it was a very moving night. we were at dinner, all of the family had barely gotten there when florida was called on the gore side which is just, was really wrong because they haven't closed the polls.

and that sort of set aside across because we had when florida so we went back to the governor's mansion and it moved me a lot because our two oldest sons were really, they were very affectionate, emotional. jenna was there, laura. george, jim. and then a lot of staff in and out. my george of course. and the two men sat and looked at precinct by precinct as it came in red and it became clear that florida was going to the gym or george's and it turned out to be george's area i don't know if any of you noticed this in the democrat primary, in 2002, why guess what

precinct had troubles with again. the ones the democrats ran. the same one that had a problem with george and gore. so since i'm outspoken and frank and what was the other word ? talk read i will perfectly free to say there's no question in my mind that george one florida. and then. [applause] i don't think i put this in my book but in my heart, when the democrat national committee chairman, you can all throw stuff at me if you want to. announced in 2002 they had one goal that was to be jeb bush. i think jen one by 14 percent . i'm not supposed to be political just want you to know what ithink . [inaudible] i like that if

their revisionist. but you know, i'm worried very much about the internet because i can put something on the internet and act like it's the truth and people will then go in there as research. for instance there was a big article the me recently in missouri because they had bought the rights to do that for my book publisher. and i spent a lovely day with a really nice girl and about the fourth page of my book i think it mentions my mother's name. she has her mother mildred pierce. my mother's pauline robinson peers. mildred was john crawford in

the movie and that's sloppy and i'm worried about things that are sloppy and things on the internet that are true. we all go to the internet to find the truth. now i'mfeeling shabby about that because i don't think they're necessarily true and i thinkwe've got to be very careful that our editors really do the research . i mean, mildred pierce . think she has close hangers on her children or is that joan crawford? i'm going to say goodbye. i'm going to go home and see my husband . i really appreciate your having me. [applause]

>> that concludes this morning's session. thank you mrs. bush. this is the texas book festival, go enjoy. >> your watching the tv on c-span2 and we're spendingthe evening with former first ladies who are also authors. up next is hillary clinton. she was first lady from 1993 to 2001 . she is the author of eight books, several of them best sellers. not only did she write as first lady, she wrote when she was sent senator of new york and as a presidential candidate. here she is when she was first lady in 1996 on c-span's book notes program talking about her best-selling book it takes a village. >> hillary rodham clinton,

author of it takes a village. what did your mother teach you about racism? >> she set such a good example read my mother as i write in the book did not have a traditional upbringing . she was born to a 15-year-old mother and seven-year-old 17-year-old father and their marriage didn't last and she went off to visit with her grandparents and that was a harsh atmosphere . somehow her own personal will strike and that of others along the way.teachers and relatives and when she was 14 she went to work in another woman's house taking care of that woman's children and that was, she summoned it all up and she was loving, attentive, caring and gave us a great start in her life. >> what about your dad? >> my dad had a different kind of upbringing. he came from an immigrant family and both of his

parents came to the country as young children read they were very intent upon working hard. his father went to work in the fields in stanton and his mother was a strong-willed young woman. one of the things i've learned from the last several years is his mother, my formidable grandmother who died when i was young insisted always on using her maiden name as well read hannah jones rodham so i was surprised to learn that that at the century she was someone who stood up for herself and made her views learned . and my father had a great upbringing. he went to penn state where he played football and for him having a family and being committed to taking care of them, coming out of the world war ii depression generation with what he thought he should do and he did very well. i was born in chicago read that's where i turned to

partridge. >> howlong did you live in park ridge ? >> we moved there when i was four and my parents moved to arkansas to be with us after my father had a stroke back in 87 so they were there for 37 years. >> what did both of them do for a living. >> my father had a small business that printed and sold and he was usually the only paid employee and sometimes had day labor that he hired and became close to one man who became kind of a employee but my mother would help out, my brothers and i would help out. >> you had two brothers. >> two younger brothers. >> how much younger where theythen you . >> q was four years younger and tony was seven years younger. >> how did you get alongwith them ? >> they would say when i wasn't buzzing them around, we got along pretty well. >> did your parents treatthem any differently ?

>> eyes i say in the book my father was harder on them. he was a real man's man and he was an athlete and he was a guy who didn't talk a lot and wasn't into reading books very much unlike my mother. so i think he was much harder on my mother because he didn't know and both my parents were so encouraging of me telling me that i could do whatever i want, there were never any distinctions made between boys and girls but my father, i ran with the boys justlike everybody else in the neighborhood did . he was a much more demanding father than my brother. >> how did you raisechelsea differently and you were raised ? >> i struggled to raise her in the same way. despite the different circumstances we had a very middle-class, normal upbringing. we were lucky to live in a great summer and we would

come and go because it was a safe neighborhood so it's not only the differences all of us face today that make me sad cause my child life is not as free and independent as i was able to be. being governor and no president makes it quite different so i have to struggle all the time to make her life as normal and my definition of normal, i saw that from my upbringing. >> there's a part in the book where you say that i think chelsea wanted to ride her bicycle and you broke down in tears. >> she's about nine and we've been writing around the grounds of the governor's mansion and they came in and they wanted to ride their bikes down to loggerhead witches 10 blocks away and i got tears in my eyes because nearly every day in the summertime i'd ride my bike to a library, to school, to

play with my friends and my mother would say be home in time for dinner and nobody worried about me and i have these two little girls and i had totell them know , i didn't feel comfortable and it wasn't because her daddy was governor, it was because they were two little girls in the downtown area of little rock arkansas. it's not as safe as it should be or used to be. that made me very sad. it was one of those moments as a mother that made me sad that we had not taken care of our society in a way that would enable daughter to be as free as i was. >> chelsea had brought appear a lot and i know that you also read about protecting her from public life, did you have to make a decision to even put her inthe book ? >> it's hard to do. this book is kind of a hybrid . it's not a memoir by any means but it does does apply to my experiences as a mother and a daughter as well as my work as an advocate and there's some experts i know try to get their information up to the public so i made

the decision that i did have to include her but i was very careful about how i talked about her and i cleared everything with her. i didn't want her to feel that i was reaching any confidence giving her an uncomfortable moment as a teenager. >> what's it like raising her in the white house? >> it's been a real challenge but it's something i've spent more time on before we moved here and anything else . i had great conversations, two of them with jackie kennedy and onassis about raising children in the public eye and i read a lot of the press coverage of over in the white house. that led both bill and me to make decisions about how we would refer to them and how we would talkabout her in public . and really we said and i think i'm very grateful it was so positively received with the press. to give her as much space and privacy as we could. >> why do you think they do? >> i think there are a lot of people who are around our age

raising children in the press and i believe that they know what they go through because if you're a journalist who's on television or whose well-known because of what you write, that gives you a taste of how your children can be drawn into your own career and certainly it's much more dramatic where we live but i think they had a certain sympathy and empathy with that. >> will also tell a story in the book about you how you and the president when you were governors warned her about the awful things that were going to be said about both of you or atleast him at the time . and she got upset. has she been upset lately? >> i think we've worked at this so long that she gets a little frustrated and concerned as would be natural but starting when she was about six as i do telling the book i realize that her dad

had been in politics since she was born and she been oblivious to read, she didn't follow the news now that she's reading and in school that was going to be different. so bill and i talked about and we thought we should try to prepare her. i think children deserve to have as much information as their ready to receive at the age that they are. so at dinner we told her that daddy was going to be running for reelection as governor and in elections people said mean things about each other and we didn't want her to be surprised and they sometimes tell stories about each other . and she was very upset at the time. but we had continued to kind of work with her and we're always talking with her and asking her if she has any questions so it's never easy and it's always painful. it's hard on not only my daughter but on my mother, on other people who care about us and we do our best to reassure them and let them know that unfortunately it's

part of it. >> it said also you like to have at least one meal the other day. how often do you get to doit . >> we sit down every day we're in town and it's usually dinner and we talk about just what families talk about. what's going on and the way it might go if we can get a few days off or what's happening with friends but we try so hard to do that and it's been something that we tried all through life and we will keep up as long as we can. >> you had a chapter on watching television. why. >> i just don't think there is any doubt that when i think about the difference in the way i was raised or bill was raised and the way life was back in the 50s with a lot of people having a great nostalgia for today the single biggest difference is the role of television in our lives. and it's not only the content which does disturb me.

it's also the process of television watching, the amount of hours that so many children spend that capacity of it in the instant gratification and it provides. i say in the book that when you have a two or three-year-old all of a sudden being able to control remote control device and never having to work at play the way we did or the kind of frustrating experiences yougo through when you're a young child . but disappearing, just passively being entertainedit changes the way children learn . >> a quote from your own book , it says 80 percent of americans responding to a 1993 pole that they believe tv is harmful to society. you think that's true. >> i think it's true and i think most people believe it's true but people feel helpless in the face of it and i tried in the book to give some suggestions about what parents can do. whatcommunities can do .

we can take back authority in our own homes back against the television and the popular culture it represents . >> why do you think it's harmful. >> i think we have sufficient evidence now and there have been a number of studies haven't gotten as much publicity as i would like. new and does a wonderful job of summarizing a lot of what we know about the effects of television and we know that television has desensitized children. clearly if you come from an unstructured family with a lot of problems to start with your going to be more affected and somebody who comes from a more stable environment but all children are in affected area and it's not just boys where there's an increase of acting out at schools as well . we know the consumer culture and the kind of manipulation of children that is done even in their own television shows , the way commercial television has had an impact.

if you compare watching public broadcasting and educational programming that appears there the children who watch only commercial broadcasting , the children who watch educational programming are better prepared for academic challenges . there are many ways we know television has impacted kids. >> i restricted the amount and type of television chelsea watched as a childand even now we check out from time to time on the tv .how do you do this weston mark. >> we don't have the same kind of control but from a very early age we're equally concerned about how much she watched. we didn't let her plop down in front of the television set. we tried to keep her active doing other things and now to go through the room, number one i'd check in on what she's watching but mostly it's by talking with her. what does you think about certain programs, how this evaluate them. i talk about how importantit is for parents to be active viewers of their children .

bill and chelsea and i watch television together but we tried to talk about what television is , how it's very implausible in so many respects area is drama and you don't solve human problems in 27 minutes plus commercials area you try to give you the capacity to separate what they see on television from what we hope they'll see in real life. >> why do you think people in the business will have children and family have done this? >> in the book i talk about how when you drive by an accident on the road we all watch. we know we shouldn't. where all rubbernecking and we have people telling us don't block the traffic and it's as though you have a thoroughfare of accidents, it is something that we're compelled to look at rid that's human nature area i don't expect the people in the business to do make money to draw viewers but it's time for all of us to say both as viewers that we have to

exercise more self-control and responsibility at least as it affects children and also programmers that let's be honest and admit that we have affected how children think of themselves. how they view society. that should not be debatable anymore and maybe then programmers can make some more responsible decisions. the president having a meeting with the major programmers to talk about what can be done on a voluntary basis . the telecommunications bill, i think we are beginning to move in the right direction and terms of responsibility. >> this is from your book, if a stranger came in and started telling her kids stories about the same events using the same kind of words and pictures you would throw them out i believe that area i think we let television get away with so much more and we permit real people in person to get away with. and when you think about the language, you think about the explicit sexuality and you

think about the constant violence , i don't think there's any doubt we not put away put up with it in person . >> was this picture on the back of the book. >> that's me in the backyard. the kids are from school nearby and this is the day we had big bird and sesame street characters as well as other public broadcasting characters because there's a study i talk about in the book that was done at the university of kansas looking at the effects of public broadcasting compared to commercial broadcasting the kids were all there and we had a great time. i was not the main attraction after big bird. >> when did you first say to yourself i want to write a book ? >> i thought about it a long time but i absolutely took it seriously when the publisher came to see me . helen reedy was the publisher and president of the trade division and rebecca the editor had published another

large book which was a marvelous book, leading with my heart and becky salazar the editor, they showed up and said have you thought about writing a book and i said it's not anything i've taken seriously and we began to talk a year ago january. >> how did you go about it? >> it was something i thought was going to be a lot easier than it turned out to be. the original plan was for me to just sit down and talk and have the conversations transcribed. and then to have some research done and some help editing the transcriptions and basically that would be the book. i found out that did not work for me. i'm just someone who has to sit down and think hard about what i want to say and it takes me many drafts. i had to do it in longhand because my computer skills were not up to the task that i had undertaken so it took about a year to do. >> 18 chapters and at the

beginning of each chapter you have a quote. all the way from lady bird johnson, john silver to let's see, booker t. washington. some of them are still alive and here today. how did you go about choosing thesequotes ? >> i started with a collection of quotes i've had from a long time and i went to those that i found i had to expand and one of my favorite times is reading a quote book which i did for hours on end, looking for exactly the right quotes to convey the meeting i wanted to get it. >> what's your favorite one? >> are a lot that are my favorite read it if i can read it, this quote at the beginning of no family is an island. one of nature's most fragile things but just look what do you do when they stick together. i just love that .and the book came out in january when

we were in the midst of our great blizzard of 96 so it seemed particularly. >> the size of the book and what you wanted to cover, i got the sense as i read that you would go awkwardly between children and politics . >> it's deals with a lot of my views about how children and political decisions intersects but i do think that all of us in whatever role we're in have a responsibility for children and i don't mean electoral politics, politics how we organize ourselves in neighborhoods and communities and churches and businesses and schools. but the book size was suggested by the publisher and i like it because it's sort of a handy size to carry around. i learned a lot about publishing. for example the number of pages in the book meant that i had added one more page would have had to add i think 16 more pages the cause of the way that books are put together rid so the size

really was perfect for what i wanted to do quite did you get in youwanted ? >> my heart is was coming back. i had so much i wanted in. my editor wonderful in helping me get down to a manageable size. could have been hundreds more pages if i had my way. >> wino index? >> partly because it wasn't meant as a textbook. it was meant for as a meditation if you will about my work for the last 25 years about children and also i was running very late. the index meant it would have been held up even longer since i was months over the deadline that i originally set, that was something i didn't have time for. >> you gotten criticism for not giving credit to the personthat helped you on this . you say there are so numerous attempts to acknowledge them individually for fear i might leave someone out . what you think of the criticism and is one human

being deserved credit work on this? many human beings do, that is my problem. i had so much directly on hand and i had friends read every word with great care and critique it and i would literally, i started making a list area i had 60 names and i was nowhere near done. i just said i can't do this the cause i was afraid i would leave somebody out. it wasn't only the direct help, it was the indirect health. there were so many people who talk to me on the telephone whom i've yet to meet, others who'd influenced me for 20 years area i thought it was the fairest way to thank everybody who helped me. >> what do you think of the criticism of the one person that supposedly waspaid by simon and schuster to spend time with you and didn't get credit . >> i thanked her for what she did for me. she worked for a number of months and i was grateful for the assistance she gave me. >> in the book on page 148

you have a rhyme area you say as i was standing in street as quiet as could be a great big ugly man came up and tied his horse to me. and then you go on with this couple of paragraphs, couple of sentences i thought often about rhyme during our first month in the white house. my friend died, ben foster killed herself and my husband and i were attacked daily from alldirections by people trying to score political points . back to this rhyme area as i was standing in the street as quiet as could be abig ugly man came up to meand tied his horse to me . where did you get that ? >> that was in one of chaucer's nursery rhyme books . she had this wonderful book of nonsense rhymes and that was a prominent one on the cover . we must have read that at least 100 times and it served as a way of explaining to a child and later date things happen in life and what

should have been the most wonderful year of our life, with my husband being inaugurated a lot of personal grief and sorrow attached to it and that's what life is, if not predictable. >> what was the impact of your father's death. >> i think it was rather sad. dramatic and significant for me personally area i think we were certainly exhausted from the campaign and we didn't take time off. we went right into the presidents separation for the transition and into the inaugural. and all of a sudden my father was gripped by a fatal stroke and we were in the hospital for 2 weeks. before he died. and i think it just was so much. when i look back on it now and i think of the entire time period, both during the campaign which was so much and in that first year of 93, there was just a lot that

happened and starting that year off, the wonder of the inauguration just two months later my father's death was very difficult. >> what did you do about the impact on someone like chelsea? did you deal with that directly? >> she came with me for the first week and we took her out of school. my brothers were there most of the time as well and my mother was there every hour so she was a part of that and i thought that was important for her to be with us as a family and to be with her grandfather who never regained consciousness adequately enough to recognize any of us. that's the first day or two we didn't think he even knew we were there but we were there together and i thought that was important. >> you say in the 16th chapter my father distrusted both big business and big government . that sounds like of the popular rhymes today. >> i think that was a very

common strain in american life and certainly that's with the way my father felt and the way you talk about both government and business, that there needed to be the strings on boats which is what i believe. i think you can't let either government or business have control or authority or be less unchecked or we will rue the day and i think there's a constant struggle in american history between those two forces . >> dig your mother and father think alike politically left and mark. >> i don't think so. my father was raised republican, very strongly so. my mother was always more democratic leaning. my father was very concerned i think more at the fact that my husband was a democrat been that he was from the south or a southern baptist or anything else about him. but my father also changed his views as he got older and began to moderate them somewhat as well. and of course he loved my

husband wholeheartedly. >> can you remember the first political thing? >> it goes so back because my father was so interested, he talk about politics and what was going on. we follow the news, read the newspaper and we had family discussions so it goes way back. probably the first thing i did actively on a national level was when i was a goldwater girl in 1954 and my father was a staunch republican who supported barry goldwater and he admired his beliefs and so i participated for the first time at that level . >> what was next. >> the first was the presidential election in 1960 between nixon and kennedy area my father was a staunch nixon supporter . my mom didn't ever say she had voted for president kennedy i had a sneaking suspicionshe might well have .

so that during the early 1960s we were constantly talking about politics in my family. what was next is probably going to college and becoming involved in politics and i started off as a young republican area i was president of the wellesley college young republicans and then i began to read more and study more and decided i had to spend some time thinking about my own political beliefs and i actually withdrew as president of the young republicans at that time. >> it happened as you were involved. was there a moment yousaid i just don't belong here ? >> no, it was more of an evolution area and it probably started back in high school area i had an excellent government class and we have mock debates and i was a goldwater girl but my government teacher made me represent president johnson and made one of my friends was a staunch democrat, one of the few in my high school speak on behalf of barry goldwater so that meant i had

to go and study all these positions and learn things from a different point of view, not just what my father had said or my community belief and that opens me up to looking at things on the different point of view. i think i've always had this mixture of politics people tried to pigeonhole me as they do everybody in public life and say we know she's a fill in the blank but it's always more complicated than that. >> ..

took a group of us down to the orchestra hall in chicago dg speak. and that we waited until everyone else was gone. and we had a chance to shake his hand. i remember being very impressed. i remember the presence and the dignity that he had. and i remember particularly how he was taking his religion and trying to make it live in the political process which i thought was very interesting. we've seen a lot of that in the last 30 years. >> you member another political career, another political in your political career for its i met barry goldwater that was a first figure i ever met. stem equity member about that? >> he was such an energetic person. those of us who are goldwater girls got a chance to shake his hand. and i enjoyed meeting him. >> you have a model of how you treat other people based on something you either learn, experience for yourself, and

said i'm never going to be like that? or am not going to be like a that with the position i've been in. >> guest: i have been drawn from a lot of people part i've been lucky in the last 20 years to meet many people in public life both here and around the world. and i admire people who try to be the same in public and private. who try to be respectful of people. who listen to people. who do not discount others because of their points of view. that is pretty much the model i have tried to follow. i don't know whether you can do this or not. in the book you mentioned you knew sam walton. if i remember right you run the walmart board. p2 that's right parades see when you're also on the children's defense fund board. what is the different atmosphere walking into those two different situations? that you have to deal with? >> by taking those two, they were much more alike than other situations i have been in. and let me see if i can describe that. >> and what years did you do

this? >> children's defense fund i was on for 20 years pretty went to work for marion wright eight allman worked for her and summers and law school for a move to arkansas went on a board and stayed on a board until i went to the white house. there is an atmosphere of debate and concern and intense , i guess >> 12, 15, 18 people. there is an atmosphere of real give-and-take. people wanted to be involved. people when it cared about the issues. marion was a strong leader, is a strong leader. and wanted to know other people think, sit and listen. the first time i walmart board meeting, he said i want to hear from all the outside directors, what is going on? what is happening? tell me what you think? he went around and asked each one of us what we saw happening in the world.

he also was a strong charisma attic leader. but he was always asking questions but he always wanted to know how to do things better. in a funny way i see similarities between them. they both built extraordinary institutions that in their own ways are unique. and have made lasting contributions to our country. and so, superficial glance might say what with this conservative, entrepreneur, sam walton have in common with this passionate child advocate, marion eight allman. and i saw these two people is tremendous examples of what you can do if you set your mind to it. >> host: usace and things and hear about corporation. ceos, for instance you point out in 1974 the ceo of a large corporation made 35 times what an average fact worker made. in 1999 they made a most 100 times a factor worker's wage. does that bother you? >> guest: is obviously a lot.

i think leaders in our country bread that is not just political leaders appeared because action on day-to-day basis this is much more of an effect on how people live their lives than the government does. it has to be more willing to identify with people who are working. has to be more respectful the struggles of people who are trying to make a living in today's economy. i just don't think it is right that in the last 20 years, corporate executives have profited personally so much when the average worker in america, both in factory work and in service industries, and white-collar work have seen their way to benefits basically stagnant. i don't think that is good for the economy. put aside all the ethical, moral, social reasons why don't think it's good. i don't because good for the economy. did henry ford pay his workers the unheard of wage of $5 and are because he knew a smart business. because if you don't pay

people and reflect their contribution to your profitability, they are not going to be able to continue to buy your goods and services. i think we've reached a point in our country were more business leaders need to understand that what was good for henry ford at the beginning of the sentries good for them. and we have to share the fruit of our productivity increases, our ability to compete in the global economy more fairly. and that is just those at the top, but everyone at the organization. >> host: how long we on the walmart board? >> guest: i was on five or six years. stuart there's a coherent good ask if you can agree with that. it is from erin halts. unfettered free market has been the most radically disruptive force in american life in the last generation. >> guest: i believe that that's why put in the book. i think that if you look at the argument we have had in our political lives in the last several years it has been a false debate. we have pitted the government against everything else. what i don't believe the government has had a big as

impact as commercial television, as a lot of the decisions made in the marketplace about how we're going to pay and compensate people about downsizing corporations and making workers or insecure. and i just believe that there's got to be a healthy tension among all of our institutions in society. and the market is the driving force behind our prosperity, our freedom, and so many respects that make our lives our own. but it cannot be permitted to just run roughshod against people's lives. >> when you're sitting on the board did you ever have to deal with this kind of thing? >> order think sam walton believed in was profit sharing part of the reason i appreciate his business philosophy the workers at walmart were able to share in the profit and the executives, when i was on the board, were very careful to keep their perks down, the offices they had, the way that they lived

and the way they treated their fellow associates at every level in the business. i thought that was a good example. see what a bunch of underlying edge at all read this other stuff. there are few voices are going for more government. skepticism towards government and the emphasis it places on personal responsibility from all citizens, americans do not favor radical dismantling of government. i can go on with this. but how far should the government go in raising? >> guest: it showed it can't predict the way the government can raise kids. they can help support parents who are raising kids. and government can also be the safety net for the poor and vulnerable children who, for whatever combination of reasons are not being adequately cared for by their own parents. for example, congress sets a minimum wage. it should be raised. it is not high enough. it cannot afford a female but it's currently paid on the minimum wage. the government also has a responsibility to ensure that

older people and younger people in particular, get the healthcare they need. that is why we should not be thinking about dismantling medicare and medicaid that should be looking at ways of making it more efficient and effective. so there are many examples of what government does has a big impact. and it's not just on the poor and vulnerable. government also determines what kind of atmosphere my child is going to live in. and i mean that literally. is the water going to be clean? is the air fit to breathe? we have made tremendous progress environmental regulations in the last 20 years. we cannot swim, fish and rivers and lakes that were before so polluted they were literally on fire. the government is the only institution capable of reining in unruly businesses that put profits ahead of people's health. and that is the kind of thing government has a role in periods. >> host: basin your expensive everything were talking about, you're no longer persuading québec a choice of what you

wanted to do in the society that you would like to try, what is it? >> i would like to do full time but i did for 25 years part-time. which is to be a voice for children. and do it in a way that tries to bring people together. to build a consensus. i think of you scrape away the far ends of the political debate you find most people clustered around the middle, worrying about their children's future. trying to make their schools more effective. trying to think about how to control television and these other things. and i really believe there is an opportunity now for people to get beyond the partisan arguments and ideology. and see what works for kids. the divorce debate. for long time i've been advocating divorce be more difficult when you are having children. we know divorce kids, so what can we do as adults to slow it down or if it is going to

occur, to make its impact is limited as possible on the well-being of children? that is the kind of discussion i would like to have a role in helping bring about in our country. see what how do you change the divorce laws? how do you slow that down? >> guest: i talk about breaking mechanisms for a little harder little longer for people with children to divorce. requiring mandatory counseling and education they can't get together work out their own differences can perhaps understand more clearly why using children as pawns and the base of property and support is terrible for kids prudent coming to some understanding about how they can, together help raise her children even after divorce. see what you talk about both the french and the adjournment is having some things that are better than what we do here. >> and other cultures as well. >> host: how about the germans? >> i am a fan of a lot of the social policies that you find

in europe. in nine oh they too are going through a rethinking of how to afford some of their policies. but in my conversations with people like chancellor cole or president, they are not cutting back on their support for families to the extent they are talking doing some other things that would free up some dollars for the economy prayed that is because they see raising children as a social obligation, not just a parental obligation even though parents take the primary responsibility. so the kind of these policies that they have four employees, particularly young mothers taking care of babies, the healthcare policy in germany that is a private public admixture something i think is worth looking at. the visiting nurses program in england where people come into the homes to try to make sure the parents know what they are doing. and for everybody from princess diana down to a single teenage mother. there's just more of a recognition that the entire

society has a stake in making sure parents do as good a job as they can. >> host: we talked about wheel law school, did you travel up much? >> no i didn't. i traveled just a little bit before bill was president pay but he never had the opportunity to travel as much. for me this has been a real eye-opening experience. and as i say i think in cultures far away as indonesia and chile i think a be here at our own country. i know americans often believe we don't have much to learn from other cultures. i would like to see that change to at least evaluate what other cultures have done. if such a high level of divorce and issues outside the home. clearly there are things we could do better. stay met the 21st century is a century of biologist but he mean? >> i think the 20th century,

open face and open the molecule to us as a century of physics prayed we now know a lot more about biology but i'm particular concern be apply the lessons we learn to raising children. i have a whole chapter in their about the lessons that biology in particular molecular biology is teaching us. i like it and to the nature-nurture debate. it is both. we clearly come equipped with their own genetic background. but how that is played depends upon what happens after we come into this world. so if we try to take the lessons we now have from biology and apply them in parenting. and apply them in education for it we could do a lot better job and how we treat children and how we train children from the very beginning of their lives. >> she ever get tired of doing this? stay met talking about this? no. i don't get tired of it but i get frustrated. i see such a disconnect between for example what science and research now knows about raising children and what we do in our own homes as

well as in our public debates. >> host: but a reactive bridge ever get tired when someone comes and it says mrs. clinton you believe got another three interviews today to do on this book and you see i just can't talk the city more? >> guest: no but i do lose my voice from time to time for a struggle even in this interview. no i don't get tired of it. >> host: in the book, you name a lot of people and a lot of companies and all who in one person you name is danielle goldman, emotional intelligence book which is one of the bestsellers purdue ever ever worry that you are endorsing something might come back. [inaudible] >> i try very hard, might researchers work very hard to make sure nothing would come back and bite me. i tried to learn as much as i could but i read daniel's book i thought it was a brilliant book it would make a great contribution of two what we knew prayed and frankly i was concerned it would not make the bestseller list which is one of the reasons i talked

about it. because i wanted people to reddit. so i am sure that there are ways you can criticize anything. but i try to use examples that have really stood up to scrutiny. >> what you find when you're out in public gets the most response? when you speak, i want -- techniques but would people respond to? >> several things. a lot of people on the front lines taking care of kids, teachers, pediatricians and nurses, social workers, others talk him issues that they talk about. and giving them some validation, the work they try to do every day. there are a lot of people, particularly parents who share my concern that we are not as a society doing what we should for our children prayed their very open to want to know about the research that demonstrates really that talking to your baby really pays off. that is still something people don't know. reading tier babies were the

best investments you can make. there's different responses to putting on the audience. >> host: has her mom wrote this? >> yes sir favors chapters a chapter about religion she really like that one. >> host: why question. >> guest: because i called her and i asked her what the essence of religious teaching she really believes if more people, but because of the way they were raised in because of the method our society sends out if they had a sense of themselves as good. and some value for themselves as well as expecting other people. boots solve a lot of our problems prayed there not be of policy would come from within. >> host: what about all the stories. i member one story we did we talked one day, hillary clinton spent $54000 of taxpayer money to fly similar to do her book. what is your answer to that?

>> guest: i regretted i wish it didn't happen. secret service made a very strong recommendation for security reasons i had to fly a military plane which is what i usually fly on for other functions. mrs. bush had to ensure was flying around on many occasions. i wish our society is not like that. site get on an airplane, talk to people find outs going on. occasionally i can get a train ride because they take over the whole car of the train that i am on. i really wish we didn't have to worry about security so much. >> host: we were not subjected to a daily diet of second guessing and cynicism about the motives and actions of every leader and institution, that's her talk about. >> yes i am in time but growing up in the 1950s and even the early 1960s. we can look at president eisenhower and be so proud he was our president.

there is little come and go people talk about codes refrigerators or whatever. it is not a steady diet of second guessing. the president could make his statements. we could judge for ourselves prayed much of what you do on c-span prayed we didn't have two seconds of the president 20 minutes of analysis by other people. i think as many political scientists are now pointing out, thomas patterson in his book out of order, what we've done to ourselves by the way we cover leaders has been a great disservice to democracy. i am all for absolute freedom of the press. people getting in their and rooting around to find out what's important. i think sometimes we are out of balance about what really is important. and it is very difficult to expect people to cherish democracy where they are the primary decision-makers wednesday and day out they are told it doesn't work. they are told the people they

vote for they see on television have x, y, and z problems. we are only human. and by any standards, american politics if you go back and look the generations or the millenni millennia, it's honest and hard-working and straightforwar straightforward. and of course, as my father was you have to be skeptical. you have to ask questions. but if you do it to the exclusion of engaging with the people who are running for office and holding office have to say, counseling democrat and people i don't think it's good for the long-term prospects of our democracy. >> a lot of people say we partially became cynical after vietnam and then after watergate. you are right in the middle of that one. >> guest: i was prayed and is good reason to be cynical. but i also think, you can't keep fighting the last war. everything is not the vietnam war. everything is not watergate and maybe it just takes a while for people to catch up

with what is currently going on. but many changes were made because of those two experiences in our nation. stu and i can ask this because it's public. how were you, when you're on the watergate committee? >> let's see, i was probably 26 and 27. sue went and just graduated from yield possible? >> guest: i was a grunt. along with four other yale graduates recommended for the job. we did, we worked 18, 20 hours a day. be intent. >> host: who did you work for? >> we had a senior attorneys who were on staff. when what you remember about that? >> guest: i remember how respectful and careful investigation was, john dort made it absolutely clear that nobody should have any preconceived notions, that no one was to draw any conclusion, no one was to talk to the press. he got very upset with me one

day because i went, as a junior lawyer on a matter to a hearing. at the end of it, someone came up and asked me a question which i didn't answer prayed but the very thought that i was asked upset him prayed he thought we need to be as removed from the political give-and-take and the press commentary as possible. and i think that is how it was done. i'm very regretful that others since then if not filed that kind of thoughtful non- partisan above the fray sort of approach. >> host: so you think it's a different atmosphere today? >> guest: i think it's a very different atmosphere. >> host: in what way? >> guest: i think the stakes have been raised on the partisanship there's so many people who shoots before they aim. they don't get the facts. they are quick to make outrageous statements and judgments about other people. the press feels it has such a

vested interest in trying to stay ahead of whatever it is that nobody can say they were behind the curve even though a week or two later it proves out to be not very important at all. so the nature of the press coverage plus the increasing means of the partisanship, i understand why it has occurred. it has been a mutual relationship. it is not one side or the others fault. i would not say that. the decibel level has been raided onto raise on both sides. i don't think it's good, it's not good for the country. in the scream and accuse each other things. >> for republicans back then, to get back they want to get their pound of flesh from the other i think it is unfortunate back to mundane

issue so is our guilt over it, why did you write about that? i have focused on hungry children. and the need to keep programs like wic with supplements which supplements formula for food and other programs like that. but her biggest problem with the children now even though we still have hungry children, one and 12, the much bigger problem is obesity among children. that is a combination of eating too much and exercising too little again. television is part of the reason for that. the fear of parents letting people go out to play as part of the reason. the fact they don't have physical education any longer. and so i thought i would write about that.

because certainly from my own experience, and from my own battles with food, the way i was raised we ate it in norma's amount of food. huge slabs of meat. great big helpings of potatoes and bread. but we were more active his children. we were playing, honor bikes, playing softball in the street. so kids today, don't have those opportunities. stu and what you do today about the exercise? you don't to the president running. speak to he has been working out and not writing. he will get back to running again. chelsea's very good she takes ballet every day. she is very active physically. i come ago where a month from good and other months i don't. i blame a lot of it on things like the weather. it's either too hot or too cold. i expect i will get better in the spring. stuart what your techniques when you travel? how you prevent gaining weight

just from eating bad food? >> guest: try to stay away from it which is very difficult. part of my problem i suppose it is for many many work off many hours you're just exhausted. food is a fuel and a comfort for it if it's around i'll my will eat that so i try to keep away from it. >> host: 's on the book what you allude to this discussion about healthcare. i had some people over the weekend that were saying you note mrs. clinton has been true men to see successfully healthcare issue without succeeding with getting a law passed have you seen the stories and heard this to think it's true? which i think is true to some extent. but we were trying to do in healthcare, in part was not understood because it was neither unfettered competition nor government takeover of healthcare. it was come as a present described a third way, a different approach, managed competition. i think we do have some positive results.

and we have seen costco down for many employers who do provide health insurance for their employees. we've seen some necessary, hard decisions being made about services that could or should being offered. but there's a dark side to that. we don't more people without insurance. 33million working people. that doesn't count people on medicare or medicaid. again for people on medicare and medicaid is those are in addition to at risk because they're underinsured. she the results of competition without any regulation. many of the managed competition, hmos, insurance companies are making tough decisions i don't they are in the long run interest of the entire healthcare system. so it is a good news bad news story. the focuses good results. i believe unchecked competition on healthcare will lead to further bad results it will affect all of us.

>> host: if you're sitting in my chair what questions would you ask that hasn't been asked? or is anything you want me to it ask? >> guest: one of the things i would probably ask is what i hope happens because of this book? i wrote it because i wanted to get these ideas out to get them shared. it has been well received for it i'm grateful people have been buying. but i would like it to be part of a broader conversation of what we do for kids. and i would like it to be something people talk about trade not the book necessarily, but the ideas that are part of this conversation about what people can do in their own homes and in their own neighborhoods and churches and everywhere els else. i really wish the message of this book it's it's not just parents that have responsibility for children, it is all of us. in my daughter's life will be affected by countless people she will never meet the make decisions about our economy, the safety of our foods, about all kinds of things that will

determine how she lives in the future. >> host: when to show to college? >> guest: that's a very sore subject. people of asked me come g have the past couple months been hard for you? i said the hardest is going to college. then to face up to the fact that they will be gone in a year. that's not very pleasant. >> guest: as she bit a choice? >> host: know that the choice she has to do. it's suing to ship know what she was to be? >> guest: for long time try to be a doctor or pediatrician, which of course i would love. specialty >> take care of her mother and father. here's what the book looks like it's called a takes a village. >> now on saturday evenings

this summer, but tvs opening up our archives and been binge watching a well-known author put our focus ties a little different. we are focusing on former first lady's who were also authors. up next is laura bush. she was first lady from 2001 to 2009. she is a former librarian. during her time in the white house, she advocated for literacy. and she cofounded the national book festival, which is

observing its 20th anniversary this fall. now from 2010 she discusses her memoir, spoken from the heart. subpoena good evening everyone. i am richard, the undersecretary for history art and culture to the estonian institution. it is my pleasure to welcome all of you comment really is all of you, there is a nice crowd here tonight. this program this evening, was a former first lady of the united states, laura bush and the occasion of the publication of her memoir, laura bush, spoken from the hartford which the "new york times" called a deeply felt kingly observed account adding mrs. bush conjures her hometown with enormous detail, lyricism and feeling. tonight, mrs. bushel be interviewed by cokie roberts. and we are all delighted to welcome her back to a smithsonian associates event.

copies of mrs. bush's book, which she has already signed are available in the lobby. because of her schedule, there will not be any personalization of the books after the program. and before we begin i would like to remind all of you to have yourself owns or electronic devices silenced. and i'm going to do that with mine too. [laughter] additionally, no photos are allowed during the program. from cell phone cameras or any other camera. we appreciate your cooperation on both of these items. as i mentioned we are pleased to have cokie roberts here in conversation with mrs. bush. cokie is a senior news analyst for npr news where she was a congressional correspondent for more than ten years bridge she is additionally a political commentator for abc news. whenever countless awards for more than 40 years in broadcasting, she's been inducted into the broadcast

and cable hall of fame. and the american women in radio and television, cited her as one of the 50 greatest women in broadcast history. cokie is the author of several books including er our mother's daughters. in account of women's roles and relationships throughout american history. an appropriate topic for tonight's program. i'm proud to work with cokie's mom and she is here today with this. lindsey was a member of commerce the board of regents and a strong supporter of america's cultural heritage both in new orleans, louisiana, indeed across the nation, welcome lindsey. [applause] >> it is a distinct honor and

privilege to introduce ms. laura bush. since her eight years as a first lady of the united states, mrs. bush has continued her active involvement in key issues including education, healthcare, and human rights. she regionally hosted a global conference on the needs of women at the newly opened george w. bush institute in dallas where she directs her global and women's initiative project. mrs. bush, career as teacher and librarian in particular partial to that because my own wife is a teacher. her early career as teacher in my brain help shape her lifelong interest in literacy and education. during her tenure in the white house she focus on early childhood development. it is an enthusiastic proponent for programs like teach for america, the new teacher project in troops to teachers. and as first lady, mrs. bush helped launch the very popular library of congress first national book festival in 2001

which continues every year end attracts hundreds of thousands of people to the mall every september. in 2006, stoecker passion global from over 40 nations for a special summit to address a world wide crisis. for nearly three quarters of a billion adults cannot read. she is currently the ambassador for u.s. decade and with 2005 she made a historic trip visiting the newly open women's teacher training institute, that she helped to establish. as first lady, she made three trips to afghanistan, to africa where she champion aids treatment and visited the burma border but she's been an advocate for women's and humans rights, humans rights around the globe. along with other accomplishments, mrs. bush has been an active participant in campaigns to raise awareness for breast cancer and heart disease. both in the united states and again around the world. i have known mrs. bush as a

great friend to the smithsonian, she showed off a variety of smithsonian collections they white house spreadsheet hosted events at the american art museum, using it as a venue to greet foreign leaders and think the arts community prayed she dedicated her portrait with president book at the national portrait gallery and took friends on loki trips to the national design museum in york prayed she hosted the design awards of the white house, and quite memorable for me was that she graciously loaned the white house copy of the gettysburg address, which usually resides in the lincoln bedroom, in the white house spreadsheet loaned that to the smithsonian for the opening of the american history museum so millions of americans could have access to that document. and now she serves on the board of african-american holter scheduled to open on the mall in 2015 prayed ladies and gentleme gentlemen,

please welcome ms. cokie roberts, and ms. laura bush. [applause] >> >> thank you all. thanks so much. thanks everybody. thank you all. [applause] [applause] thanks a lot. [applause] thank you doctor kearns, thank you very much. and i did really love to visit although smithsonian museums and institutions. they were our neighborhood museums they are so wonderful prayed they are such huge asset to the knighted states. so i'm thrilled to be here at the invitation of the smithsonian institution.

i'm very happy to be in washington. odysseus have any friends. thank you all very, very much for coming out tonight. i know there are a lot of people who worked in the administration, i think there are volunteers here that have volunteered to open all of those letters. and help us answer those letters. thank you all for everything you did for us, for the eight years we lived here. on thank you so much for coming out to welcome me tonight. i am thrilled to be back. and thrilled to see all of you. you may not know that i actually had lived in washington twice before george and i moved into the white house. george and i lived in washington and 1997 and 1988 when george was working on his dad's campaign. and my first day in washington was during the summer of 1969, when one of my good friend some southern meth jet methodist university and i headed east to see what life outside texas would be like.

[laughter] we ended up in washington. she got a job at the old garfinkel department store. and i decided to try my luck at getting a job on capitol hill. i set up with an interview with congressman george may hanh was the congressman for my home district of midland. and he represented actually midland, the district, midland texas is actually in for as long as the district had been a district rate he had been there almost 35 years. he looked over my resume he asked if i could type or take shorthand. and i said no. i had taken a quick course of typing in summer school, and high school. but i hadn't really paid a lot of attention. congressman and then asked me if he thought my father -- if i thought my father would

consider sending me to it secretarial school. [laughter] i thought about what my father just spent to send me to it sm you and i said no again. and congressman gently suggested that without being able to type or take shorthand, i wasn't qualified for a position in his office. had i been a typist however, and the summer of 1969, i might very well have become a congressional staffer in washington instead i returned to public school teaching was very happy. had i stayed in washington i might never had met george w. bush. so in retrospect, i am grateful that i was turned down by capitol hill. [laughter] [applause]

like to take a few minutes to share with you about my book about how george and i met in both without realizing began our journey to washington d.c. for at least a year now my friend jan donnelly's husband, joey o'neill had been telling me that he wanted to introduce me to it one of his friends. jan had gone to lee high school and had lived with me in houston at the château dishon. after spending a few years in san francisco, jan and joey had come home to live in midland. joey was working in his dad's oil business and his childhood friend george bush was working as the oil land man. scouring county courthouse records for land that might be leased for drilling wells. joey talked of george every time i stopped by to visit jan. i was in no rush.

i had a vague memory of george from the seventh grade, almost 20 years before. [laughter] i knew that his dad had run for senate and lost in the 1970 when i first moved to houston. and i assume that georgia be very interested in politics, while i was not. it was late july, one of those high heat days when come desk, the sun was, left behind it a spent and exhausted world. i put out a blue sundress, drove the car around the corner, and walked up to the door of jan and joey's brown brick townhouse. even the roof was a sheeter shake brown. the cicadas were droning and overlaying their vibrating wings was a steady war of air-conditioners to keep the baking hothouses cool. joey was at the grill. it was not some elaborate party. it was just the four of us. jan, joey, george and me.

sitting out back eating hamburgers. we laughed and talked until it was nearly midnight until midnight. the next 80 phone rang was george saying let's go play miniature golf with jan and joey as her chaperones. [laughter] the miniature golf course was one of the prettiest places in midland. it was built among a force of old elm trees that had grown tall and graceful, even in the west texas ground. we played golf under the stars and laughed again. then i went back to austin, and george started visiting on the weekends. sometimes he would fly over on a friday night. or he would drive. but he came every weekend except for the very end of august when he left for maine to see his family. laura bush loves to tell the bush that george spent exactly one day that summer. when he called my apartment,

she says, that some guy answered. and he raced for a plane and flew right back down. [laughter] i returned to the library at dawson elementary and works all through september. by the end of the month, george had asked me to it marry him. we had been dating only six or seven weeks. but our childhoods overlap so completely, and our worlds were so intertwined, it was as if we had known each other our whole lives. i loved how he made me laugh and his steadfastness. i knew in my heart that he was the one. i looked at him and said yes. that sunday night, when george arrived in midland, he had to speak to my parents. a week later, early on a sunday morning, george and i drove to houston to meet his parents. he introduced me with the news that we were getting married.

[laughter] after lunch, the bushes home, george's dad pulled out his pocket calendar and looked over each weekend that fall. in a few minutes we picked a wedding date. november 5, 1977. one day after my birthday. in one day before the anniversary of that awful accident, and only about three weeks away. there is no time to even order printed wedding invitations. my mother wrote an address all of our invitations by hand. far more nervous than either the bride or the groom, or jan and joey o'neill. joey and jan had dated for years before they got married. neither of them dreamed that their invitation to dinner would lead us to the altar in a mere three months. [laughter] and perhaps it wouldn't have if joey had introduced us and we are growing up in midland or when george and i lived on

the opposite sides of the sprawling château should dishon in housto houston. almost any other moment prior to that night. but at that particular moment, on that warm summer night, both of us were hoping to find someone. we were not looking for someone to date, but for someone with whom to share a life, for the rest of our lives. we both wanted children. we were ready to build an enduring future. those were the facts of our lives and we went to dinner that night. it was the right timing for both of us. of course, not everyone in midland agreed. as i was packing to leave austin, ragan and billy were selling their house. a week before the wedding, the mother of a friend of mine from midland came to see rick and billy's house but she was thinking of buying it for her daughter. she didn't recognize reagan, but rugged recognized her and said we are going to be in

midland next weekend, we are going to laura and george's wedding. and without a second's hesitation, this woman said to reagan, yes, can you imagine, the most eligible bachelor in midland marrying the old maid of midland. [laughter] reagan was speechless. [laughter] but i thought it was funny. after all, i am four months less two days younger than george. the movers loaded up my few things, after the last box was stowed my cat, dooley and i began that drive that i had never quite imagined making, act to live in midland. right outside of san angelo, i came upon a few scattered trees lining the edge of the road. now on the verge of november, the frost had already settled on the land. in their leaves had fallen and blown away. trunks and blanches stood dark

against the empty sky. suddenly, from one naked tree, a great mass of winged birds lifted up, feathers pulsing, air swirling as they rose. i slowed and watched in silence as they beat their migratory way south. then it glanced back at the unremarkable tree that had extended its branches for rest and refuge. the site was like a beautiful wedding gift on the long ride toward home. we were married on a saturday morning at the first methodist church in midland. the church i'd gone to all my childhood, where i was baptized as a baby. where i had learned to sing in the choir, and where my mother still went every sunday. methodist weddings are brief. and ours was especially so. there were no bridesmaids to add a few extra minutes as they walked down the aisle. it was perfect for the old

maid in the eligible bachelor. [laughter] the rehearsal dinner had been held the night before in the windowless basement ballroom of the new hilton hotel. laura and george bush had hosted it on the menu was chicken and rice. when dinner was served, my mother blanched. our wedding reception was to be a post- ceremony luncheon at the midland racquet club the next day. and mother and the caterer had settled on chicken and rice. [laughter] they had never thought to compare menus. the next morning, mother called the caterer at the crack of dawn to see if something could be changed. posten said of rice? anything? but the meal was already in motion. so our guests ate chicken and rice all over again. [laughter] the morning after my 31st birthday, i stepped into the chapel on my father's arm.

george was waiting for me at the altar. the night before, when george did up to give his tote, he had wept. george and his father deeply sentimental men. and years to come, the others, the cool removal of television with obscure the depths of caring. how much and how deeply their own hearts open. george herbert walker bush didn't even try to give a toast. barbara spoke for the family. [laughter] that morning, the stained glass window sparkled with light, casting pretty patterns of the simple wooden chapel pews. it was, i later learned exactly 31 steps down the aisle into the rest of my life. [applause]

[applause] [applause] >> thank you all. [applause] >> thank you all very much. and thanks especially to cokie. thank you for being here. >> as you know, i should reveal to everyone else i've been an enormous laura bush fan. [applause] i have written about you, and have admired your work. but this book is a delightful buck. one of the nice things about the passage you read in addition to being charming and lightning, gives a couple of things that are whether to talk to but anyway. what is the style. you are a voracious reader. as i was reading, particularly as you get into your descriptions of texas and your

childhood where you are there on the open plains of midland, was there somebody style you had in mind? thirty-two that was the specific writer in mind. but i didn't want this to be a literary memoir. i do love to read. i love to read every kind of book. but especially literature. so i did want this to be that way. there is not a specific style but i wanted to be able to paint the pictures that i went along with those trees that lifted off birds lifted off the tree. >> guest: and you do it. and it's short sentence structure. >> guest: i do like a plane and straight writing. that is what appeals to me. the kind that is just straight and spare. that maybe that is also that

effective growing up someplace that was so plain and spare. the landscape itself was. sue went in addition to talking about meeting your husband. you talk about reagan. she is a good friend. it struck me, it struck me the whole time you were here. these girlfriends from your childhood have remained you're really close friends. how important has that been sheer life into your success? spit it while all of our friends have been very important, both to george and me. they were very big support in politics. bragg was in the second grade with george. i met her in fourth grade. her mother, this is in the book, married seven times. [laughter] only the fit to three different men. [laughter] but because of that, oregano from school to school.

every time wando would divorce should move to another house and move into another school district for toshiba was school to george the first couple of years in sam houston. then she transferred over to where i was. i am very fortunate in george's to to have this long history of friendship with all those friends we have in midland. jan and joey who introduced us. many, many others sprayed the women i hike within the national parks every year are women that i have known since then. we still see those same friends. george loves to tell a story, the first time they came up and he took him to the oval office. they'd say can't believe i'm here. [laughter] and then they would look at him. [laughter] [laughter] speech at one thing about a

long history of friendship like that, it's we knew these people. they have known us our whole lives. they know everything about us. they were our friends long before politics. and they are still our friends. they are great emotional suppor support. >> host: reagan's mother was one that right? my mother married three times in her philosophy is all of life is one big date. [laughter] and when you are married you have to date the man you are married to. but before and after him. [laughter] you're free to do what you please. [laughter] see but you talk about knowing everything about you, your friends have any reference that about a horrible accident. and you have written about that in the book. you and talk about that? >> guest: i did write about that part i had to, obviously it was the largest tragedy by far in my life and in the life

obviously the family, mike douglas' family. but also with all of our friend friends. mike was a friend of all of us. he had actually dated reagan. he was one of my best friends. he and i talked on the phone every night for years. it was just a terrible tragedy of not seeing a stop sign. he was on a dark country road until too late. and just by some very, very odd chance, coincident i would guess, he happened to be coming on the other road. i didn't know argosy that i'd hit his car. i was thrown from the car and my girl the friend that was with me was not thrown from the car she was able to get out. they walked to the side we went i got out i can walk to purdah had a broken ankle but

i didn't know it for a few days. in another car came up in a man got out of the car and went to the person lying on the ground which was mike. my friend judy said i think that's his father but i think that's a person's father that on the ground. ice will know that couldn't be his father that's mr. douglas. and then when we got taken to the hospital, we were just in a room with a cloth draped separating us from an judy and i were and we weren't really injured. very minor injury. no one was there with us. and i could hear ms. douglas crying on the other side of the curtain. and then when i got home my parents told me that it was michael but i had already figured it out. that was a huge tragedy that life lesson that is it really

hard lesson to learn. that i learned early. and that is things happen to you. or you know you because things happen -- if you could take it back you would. but there's never anything you can ever do about it. it is just a fact. and you have to accept it with whatever grace you can accept it with. see one but you hadn't talked about before now. >> guest: no i haven't really talked about it. i asked him the 2000 race when it came out in the newspapers, i was asked about it several time times. i just. reporter: an article that oprah did in her role magazine right after he moved to the white house. she asked me about is in that article. but i was never asked about that often so i never talk about. people knew because i would get letters from family members of summer, other young person who been involved in a car accident where there is a death. note that letters them

teachers, parents, answer own goals, but asked me to it write to the young person. to write words of encouragement to them. so i did of course. i would always suggest they get some kind of counseling for that they talk to a pastor, get a counselor, find some sort of help. i did not do that and no one ever suggested that i do that. it was a timeframe. no one really talked about it. reagan and i talked about. something is swallowed and didn't talk about. >> host: but the whole town knew. speech of course, the whole town knew. >> host: do you think that helped an event george bush because he knew and you didn't have to talk about? >> guest: that might've happened i wanted him to know for i never know who's going to run for office pay but i wanted him to know that casie would ever in some way affect his political run if he wanted to run.

and it was a very important thing about me. someone supposed her daughters had married someone they just met? [laughter] >> guest: i would think that was really reckless of them. [laughter] : : tv, on "c-span2". this labor day weekend, watch top nonfiction books and authors. sunday at noon eastern on "in depth". a two hour live conversation with author and freedom coalition found a offering. if the 9:00 p.m. eastern on afterwards, new senior editor at large, on his book november.

and 2020 democratic primary election. he's interviewed by editor at large. on monday, labor day, at 6:15 p.m. eastern, judy with the book, yes, i can say that. then at 7:00 o'clock, melissa and jennifer, on the college admissions scandal with the book, unacceptable. at 830, five days. in that at 10:30 p.m., retired admiral james, on his book, sailing true north. watch tv, this labor day weekend "c-span2". be sure to watch the all virtual 2020 national book festival, five on saturday september 26 on book tv. in the beginning now on book tv, with a look of books written by former